Charity Knit & Crochet: Do you know where your scarf went?

I am a big proponent of doing charity work. I’ve made hats for preemies and afghans for Afghans. I’ve donated yarn to senior centers and I’ve spearheaded local efforts of national projects. But never had I expected to see what transpired in the Capital District this week.

A few months ago, in this blog, I promoted a national project that benefits former foster care young adults who were currently in college or trade schools. In good faith I had approached a local yarn store owner, and asked if she would set up a box in her store into which people who wished to donate their items could leave them. At the end of the project we would box and send them to the Orphan Foundation of America, the project’s originator and sponsor. She agreed to do this and, in fact, offered a discount on yarn purchased for this project.

The response was truly gratifying. Over 40 scarves were donated, and in the true spirit of the Red Scarf Project they were beautiful, professional looking items that I was proud to say I had helped procure.

A few days ago I received this store’s e-newsletter. On the 2nd page, was this paragraph:

Community Outreach

RED SCARF PROJECT…
Thank you for your gift of time
and talent. We collected over 40 scarves that
will be given to Vanderhyden, LaSalle School
for Boys in Albany and St. Anne’s Institute.

While I’m sure that these institutions are very worthy recipients of all the hard work that went into these items, they were not the intended recipients. The intended recipients were the young men and women receiving care packages from The Orphan Foundation of America. Over forty hard-working young adults would not be receiving gifts intended for them. This is akin to giving money to The Red Cross Fund for Tsunami Victims, but having the postman decide that the money should go to UNICEF instead.

It’s not that UNICEF isn’t a worthy cause, no one could possibly argue that, but you decided to support the Red Cross, and you have the right to say where your donation goes.

It is shocking and frustrating and disheartening to think that all of one’s hard work was not sent to the intended recipient, but in no way should this reflect on the charities themselves. Fortunately the scarves in question have been returned to the Project and will be boxed and sent to the Foundation in time for the December 15 deadline.

If you have not yet sent in your donated scarf, you can send them individually to:

The New York Attorney General’s Office takes Charitable Fraud very seriously. The definition of Charitable Contribution is “The promise or grant of any money or property of any kind or value, whether or not in combination with the sale of goods, services, entertainment or any other thing of value…” If you feel you have been a victim of charitable fraud I urge you to take a look at their website at: http://www.oag.state.ny.us/ where you will find information as well as complaint forms.

This leaves a REALLY bad taste in my mouth and I don’t say this as someone who’s a friend of the author. I say this as someone who has done charity work in the past, and has had to correct others when the topic of charity fraud and misdirection come up. MOST charities are on the up and up, but stories like this don’t help.

My mom, who has glaucoma, can only make a few items a year because needlework strains her poor eyesight. She painstakingly loom knits every stitch with love, and when I told her about the call for scaves, she knit for several weeks to make a scarf for a Red Scarf student. I self-designed a scarf as well. She would have been very upset to hear that her scarf went somewhere else, no matter how deserving, as she (and I!) chose to support THIS charity with our time, money, and care.

I’m very, very pleased that neither scarf has been donated yet, otherwise you can be assured I would have had to contemplate some unpleasant choices.

Why did the store change the recipients? We they concerned about mailing costs? Or did they legitimately think they could be given to a local group that services the same needy population? How did they become confused? We need a little more background before we go ballistic.

Wow. This is truly an unbelievable and horrendous act. I have not been to that store in a while, but rest assured, I will never set foot in it again. I am very relieved to hear that the scarves in question were retrieved and will make their way to the project.

I’m sitting here after having read this, and I’m trying to think of excuses for the owner of the shop. After all, I’m sure she thought she had good reasons to divert items made for one project to another cause. Right now, I can’t imagine what those reasons could have been. Harriet’s response in comment #4 says that any “concerns had been laid to rest”, so what on earth made this otherwise responsible (I’m sure) LYS owner think this was in any way appropriate? I’m sure she thought the local charities mentioned were deserving of local knitters’ attentions, but so are the Red Scarf Project folks. If this owner wanted to donate to local charities only, maybe she should have mentioned that fact before she allowed a collection box in her store for Red Scarf Project scarves and additionally, offering a discount on yarns for that project. I have to also say that I think there is probably more here than meets the eye. So, I’m thinking that maybe this woman needs to step up to the plate here, before the local knitting community really begins to shun her and her store, and explain what happened. We do have to remember that there are (at least) two sides to every story. Just my two cents…

On behalf of the students that will be fortunate enough to receive these scarves, I say Thank YOU!

But the students say it much better. One from last year wrote,

“I have received my care package and I really cannot describe how I felt when I was wearing that red scarf. It made me smile throughout the whole day because although no one knew it was hand-made for me or that it was a gift. I knew that it was and that made it special. Thank you SO MUCH for all of the other gifts, they’re truly appreciated.” From Sheryl in Florida

Thank you so much for blogging about this. This sort of misdirection and misrepresentation needs to see the light of day. While I am sure the other groups are worthy of donations, if one is collecting for a certain charity, the collected items should make it to that charity and not somewhere else.

It’s a shame that people like that bring a bad light to charity knitting and crocheting because there are so many good people trying their best to actually help people in need.

Wow. I am very rarely speechless, but I hardly know what to say about this. What’s even more disturbing is that even after this has been brought to light, the main web page of that store is still claiming to be collecting scarves for this very cause as a part of its “Community Outreach,” and although it does not name the exact organization, the intended recipient organization is very clear (not to mention using the name “Red Scarf Project”) — right down to describing the former foster children in college, to the scarf size and unisex requirements. There can be no mistake that these scarves were intended for the OFA.

I’m very glad you blogged about this and even more glad that you rescued the scarves and they will be going to their intended and very worthy recipients. I hope the shop owner realizes what a mistake she has made with this.

I understand and agree this blows, glad it was corrected.
However…now it makes me think of the 40 kids at these schools who may also need scarves…another drive, perhaps? It could be more variation, and may also speak to some people (as the Red Scarf currently does).
thoughts?

I, too, believe that the store owner definately should not have arbitrarily changed her mind about where to send the charity items that so many people worked long and hard on. I’m sure that in her mind, ‘a charity is a charity’ and thought that someone would benefit from all of the work and love that others put into their scarves. I would really like to see the owner of the store respond to all of these comments, and to explain the reasons for what could have easily been, without Ms. Levy’s stepping in, a very real case of charitable fraud.

Thank you for posting this Harriet. I am so glad that you happened to read the LYS newsletter and act on it before the scarves were re-appropriated. I am still scratching my head wondering why she would do this?? She undoubtedly has angered many local contributors who will never set foot in her store again. What was she thinking?? Why did she not contact you and say I can’t mail them out come and get them?? I will be knitting a scarf or two more for OFA as a result of this.

I heard about this from one of my online spinning groups. Thank you to Harriet for supporting this cause in the first place & speaking up about it when things went awry. I’m not local, but you can bet I will NOT shop this store should I ever get to the area. If the shop owner has something to say in her defense, I suggest she say it. A lot of hard feelings could have been avoided had she done so in the first place before attempting to “hijack” the OFA scarves. And yes, the other kids sound like a completely worthy cause & I hope that scarves are made available to them at some point, too.

Thank you for bringing this issue to light and supporting a very deserving cause. Certainly, many groups are deserving of attention but when a contribution is made, it should end up where it was intended. I hope the shop owner takes time to make her thoughts clear here.

If you agree to do something, you do it. It was not the owner’s decision to change the destination when 40 other people chose a specific charity. Thank you for writing about this. I’m so glad this was sorted out. I support OFA every year and would be horrified to learn that my scarf went somewhere else – no matter how deserving the other cause.

I just wanted post as a former employee of the LaSalle School for Boys. There are certainly many needy boys there who have been placed at the school for many reasons, not all their fault (ie family issues). When their time at LaSalle is done many will enter foster care and then age out of the system at some point.

Well I am happy the scarfs went to their intended charity, there are many children in our area who could benefit from a nice hand knit or crocheted gift. I don’t know what the yarn store owner was thinking, but she did originally give the scarfs to another worthwhile and similar group of children.

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